When I first picked out seeing the Rangers game to see tomorrow night it was because I thought it would be a good game to watch. I loved Torts from his days down in Tampa Bay and to see him coaching again in person would be a treat. Add in a little Henrik Lundqvist and Brad Richards, and the Rangers are almost palatable. Plus I expected the Rangers to be better than they currently are doing in the standings.

I didn't expect the Rangers to be the only pointless team this far into the season, or that Ryan Kelser would make is early return from injury tomorrow, or how tempered my excitement about tomorrow's game is right now. My excitement is mellowed because tomorrow night is night that the Canucks will remember Rick Rypien.

The Jets did it beautifully on their home opener in Winnipeg just over a week ago, and I expect no less from the Canucks. Everyone who is a Canucks fan has a favorite Rick Rypien moment, so tomorrow night will be hard, for a lot of us. I imagine this will be heartbreaking and I cannot say that I knew him at all, just know of his on-ice charisma. I cannot imagine what his family will feel tomorrow.

Last week before the Jets game I spend the morning reading this article on Rypien by Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press. It is a long and tough article to read, but I highly recommend spending the time to. I don't want to quote from it because I feel that you should read it in its entirety because it really is worth spending the time.

Here's to hoping that his short life will amount to something more by allowing us to talk and educate ourselves about depression, and how much it hurts.

For the first time in three and a half months, I packed my Canucks shirt with me to work. It's a bit rainy outside and this just feels right, no? Hockey is back, and with Thanksgiving around the corner, it just feels all so right.

And for the first time in months, I am now excited to start this hockey season. I'm not sure if the Pensblog writers felt this way about the beginning of the season after they had lost to Detroit in the SCF, but it took a while to care about hockey.

Can the Canucks do what they did last year? Impossible to predict and also unlikely to happen. So let's move on from what happened last year, and enjoy the beginning of the season for what it is. Hockey is back, be grateful, because if we have a lock-out next year, you won't get the joy of feeling like today is Christmas.

Head over to the boys at The Pensblog for your opposition blog coverage. I might be jumping on their pre-game podcast, so if you want to give it a listen. I'm sure I'll get ripped in their c-blog for my podcast appearance.

Today Hodgson is making a statement that he is a real NHL player, not just a rookie with a high jersey number. As we all have heard by now, Hodgson is going from being 39 to number 9. It was worn most recently by Taylor Pyatt. More notably it was worn by Ivan Boldirev, Russ Courtnall, Gary Leeman and Dale Tallon.

Earlier this summer Harrison Mooney of Pass it to Bulis asked me to contribute to a Canucks preview magazine he was putting together. Since I've given up on pre-season game watching, I finally had a chance to give it a read. And, well, it's really, really well written. Like 1000% better than this blog post will be.

The Canucks’ annual features an exclusive interview between Vancouver Sun beat writer Ian Walker and Kevin Bieksa, as well as contributions from Justin Bourne of Puck Daddy, Remy Greer, Thomas Drance, and Cam Davie of Canucks Army, Yankee Canuck, Kent Basky and Cam Charron of Nucks Misconduct, Katie Maximick and Richard Loat from Canucks Hockey Blog, the great Tom Benjamin who blogs over at Canucks Corner, Dani Toth of Benched Whale, Jeff Angus of Dobber Hockey, and Daniel Wagner, Qris Johnson and myself from Pass it to Bulis. In short, there is no shortage of talented Canuck writers; this is a star-studded lineup.

You can either order it direct from here or pick it up at newsstands around Vancouver, like at Chapters.

So onto our next set of business: Rinkotology

The boys from The Pensblog are at it again with their Rinkotology 2011 game.

Well it's actually three two-month long games. Less commitment than a whole season of fantasy hockey and you get a reboot with your team if you want to switch it up. Go here to read all the details.

You get to win bragging rights, and more importantly there is cash to be won. And a Championship Belt. Who doesn't want to win a Championship Belt?no comments

I keep telling myself not to watch the pre-season games. I'm so over the pre-season and yet, last night found myself again watching another pre-season game. Justification was "hockey is on tv". So beside Owen Nolan being cut last night and Aaron Rome breaking his finger, did we hear the new Canucks goal song last night?

Play it like 10 times and maybe it will grow on you.

The song is also being used by a bunch of other teams, so don't think the Canucks are being original here (we have something in common with the Leafs!). But remember the last time they used the same song as a bunch of teams? Remember Crowd Chant by Joe Satriani? Yeah that didn't stick more than a season. Every team wants their own Chelsea Dagger these days, so I see why they are leaning towards this one.

Maybe I should just be grateful that this may mean the end of Holiday by Green Day?

I just came back from spending 10 days in the Midwest. Being two and a half hours south of Chicago, there is, not surprisingly, not a whole lot to do there if you are a tourist. They swap o's for a's when pronouncing words and going to the apple orchard was a high point in the trip (more fun than you can imagine). It really is as flat as I imagine Saskatchewan to look like but man can the food there give you a heart attack (in a good tasty artery clogging way of course).

Often when people found out I was from Vancouver, people would start out by reminding me about the riot we had (*commence automatic eyeroll*) and then begin to ask about our city. Since it is summer, I would list off all the things I do during the summer, like going to the beach, running the seawall, hiking, summer soccer, beach volleyball (my other half does this), scuba diving, firewords on the beach and of course patio drinks. I would tell them about how we take advantage of the 3 months of sunshine we get per year by being outside as much as possible during the summer. Then they would ask, what do you do the rest of the year? Does it rain during the rest of the year?

Answer: hockey

And it's true. When it starts raining for 9 months straight, I have hockey. Honestly, I don't know what else would get me through the winter/rainy season in Vancouver.

So this morning when Mark Madryga tells me there is rain in the forecast and I am forced to put on shoes instead of flip flops, I am left to conclude: winter is coming.

Seriously, training camp starts this weekend at Rogers Arena and the first game of the season is 21 days away. Break out the Canucks shirts, we're getting close.

*Said in the most Sean Bean as a Stark of Winterfell way possibleno comments

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